According to a stock market announcement, the acquisition will result in a combined student accommodation portfolio worth £10.5bn with around 75,000 beds.

As a business, Unite is targeting cost savings of £13.7m through the deal and an expected additional £11.5m of cost synergies from a single corporate overhead.

The latter will be achieved through "streamlining and removal of duplicated group functions.”

A headcount reduction of “approximately 40%” is anticipated by the Unite board, but this will not exceed 7.5% of the combined group’s workforce.

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A review will decide which roles are cut but Unite is already proposing closing Empiric’s London and Birmingham offices.

Retention awards of up to £500,000 have already been approved for Empiric to keep key staff.

On the property front, the aim is this deal will support further expansion, through conversions and future acquisitions, to increase portfolio value by up to 20%.

Specifically, Unite is aiming to access the ‘returner’ market among non-first year undergraduate and postgraduate students with many of whom living in HMOs.

A key driver for the deal is Empiric’s success in developing offerings for the returner market and Unite has acquired the firm as a more “efficient route to scale”.

The acquisition is subject to both shareholder and regulatory approval.